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Management grad from Symbi, Pune, married to a loving hubby, who is a businessman cum sharebroker from South Kerala. Sitting idle at home, I noticed my interest in cooking n when I got gud reviews of my culinary skills, the idea of blogging crossed my mind. And thus, started off without much prep works n I guess, have started learning n am growing gradually..
Most of these recipes u find here are borrowed from my mother, mother-in-law, relatives, etc.. n also my experiments with cooking ingredients which turned out to be superhits somehow :)! Anywys, I LUV COOKING AND AM HAPPY U LUV MY BLOG! OVERWHELMED:)!

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Friday, April 30, 2010

As one of my best friends' suggested, I'm thinking of concentrating on the basic recipes too a little bit more along with the new ones.. Now, regarding cabbage thoran, what can I say, it is considered to be one compulsory item in the basic menu of any Keralite's tiffin box, isn't it? which simply means its easy to make n also nutritious, which our moms would've aimed at while we were schoolgoers, right? a 'thattikkoottu'(prepared in rush without much effort) item as we Keralites would describe it, this one goes to all those newly weds and those away from home struggling to impress their hubbies :)..

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I guess everyone of us make dosa at home and most of 'em should be fed up with eating plain dosas right? At least, I donot admire dosas much if its gonna be routine. Hence, I thought of blogging an easy-to-make uthappam which is very filling n yummy! Now, for those unaware of what uthappam is, it can be considered as an extension of dosas, say a spicier version. Wondering what it is? Interesting part of the story is, you may not even need to prepare a curry or side dish for this version of dosa..easy job done!!!

I guess most of the neutral family guys buy the readymade dosa batter. Anyways, I'm jotting down the plain dosa recipe for all types of sweet families and also for those who wish to learn apart from buying the readymade version everyday.

Ingredients for the Dosa batter:

Raw Rice (Pachari) : 2 cups

Urad dal (Uzhunnu) : 1 cup

Powdered Fenugreek / methi seeds (uluva) : 1/2 tspn

Leftover cooked rice : 2 tbspn or curd : 1 tbspn

Salt : as required

Soda bi-carbonate (sodappodi) : 1/2 tspn

Ingredients for Uthappam:

Finely sliced tomato : 2 nos.

Finely sliced onion : 1 no.

Sliced green chilly : 3 nos.

Salt : to taste

Mix all the above uthappam ingredients with your hand and keep aside.

This is how we make dosa batter ;

Wash the rice and dal thoroughly.

Add methi seeds to it and soak them in plenty of water and leave overnight or for 6 -8 hours for fermentation, in a warm place.

Wash the mixture again and grind them using a mixie/ wet grinder to make a batter of thick to medium consistency, along with just the required amount of water.

While grinding, you may add some leftover cooked rice/curd for the idlis / dosas to be too fluffy.

Once you got a thick batter, add soda powder and required salt to the batter. Now, for that, take a spoon of the batter and mix the soda powder n salt thoroughly in that batter and then mix the same in the whole batter thoroughly.Check salt and add more if required.

Keep the batter aside for about 1-2 hours again for the effect of soda powder to be visible in the batter; you can see that the batter fluffs up and thats the right time for making dosas.

The making of Uthappam :

Heat an iron griddle or non-stick tawa under medium flame. Once hot, pour a tspn of gingelly oil (nallenna) and grease the whole griddle with half an onion or a thick clean cloth or so.

Pour a spoonful of batter and widen the circumference of the dosa by moving the spoon in a spiral manner. Donot make a too thin dosa for uthappam; like that of masala dosa or ghee roast, it should be thicker than that.

Add sliced tomato, green chillies & onion above the dosa. You may add a little chopped coriander leaves also along with it.

Pour some more dosa batter over the slices and then pour ghee over it. After about 1 minute, turn the dosa over and press it with the spatula (chattukam) and turn over again until both sides have been cooked and turned golden brown and shiny. Add more ghee or dalda for richness and crispiness.

Serve hot with sambar or chutney or just like that without any side dish.. trust me, its different and yummy!

Note: If the dosa/uthappam is not coming off smoothly or is sticking to the iron griddle and is messy, remove it and pour a little gingelly oil and grease the griddle with a little egg yolk and half an onion.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Today's recipe is gonnabe something made out of a very beautiful vegetable, which resembles a garland of flowers, cauliflower.. There are a vast variety of cauliflower dishes, however, I thought of starting off with the fry version, which takes no much time and is simple n tasty.. Even though cauliflower is considered to be used very commonly in northy dishes, its gradually becoming one of Kerala special recipes too... So, try out n enjoy!

Monday, April 26, 2010

This recipe actually came as an idea, thinking of what I would do with the leftover idiappam / rice noodles flour and guess what?! it turned out to be a super duper hit among all, especially kids. Very very very simple recipe, yet yummy! This is how it goes..

Rice flour : 1/2 cup

Grated coconut :1/2 cup

Oil : to deep fry

Cardamom powder : a pinch if required

Sugar : 1 cup

Salt : 1/4 tspn

Add salt to rice flour and mix well. Boil 1 cup water and pour onto the rice flour and knead the dough until it gets completely wet n sticky.

Put grated coconut to the dough and mix well with hand.

Keep aside to cool and keep inside the fridge for the flour to get firm.

Now make tiny balls to the size of a white chick pea(vellakkadala) and keep aside.

Pour oil to a tawa and once its hot, put the rice balls in it and deep fry until they turn golden brown and remove n place them on a tissue paper.

Make sugar syrup with a little water added to sugar along with cardamom powder, boil it by stirring continuously.

Pour the syrup to the bowl containing fried balls to the level that it cover all rice balls.

Garnish with tiny slices of badam or pista and serve crisp. Store in fridge and use later in case there is anything left!

Note : You may even boil the water adding grated coconut and then add the rice flour mixed with salt and knead to make a smooth soft dough.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Hey! here comes a very simple n easy recipe, can be a first try for those amateur cooks out there cuz this turns out to be too good to be avoided by anyone of your guests! :) . I remember, one of my college mates used to bring this for lunch very often and it so happens that she gets nothing left to eat when start 'tasting' her potato stir fry! So, I guess this is again a common recipe of most of the Kerala housewives who has got no much time to spend at kitchen.. Try it out!

Ingredients :

Potato : 4 nos.

Finely sliced onion : 2 nos.

Green chilly : 3 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Turmeric powder : 1 tspn

Chilly powder : 2 tspn

Coconut oil : 2 tbspn

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Salt : as required

Wash and peel off the skin of the potatoes. Dice them into tiny pieces and marinate with a little salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder and keep aside.

Take a non-stick pan and pour 1 tbspn of oil. Add mustard seeds and allow to splutter.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Wow! puttum kadalayum is THE perfect combo for breakfast for me.. a real delicacy of every Kerala household.. I jus love the combination n would 'gulp' double the quantity of breakfast I would have if its some other variety.. This is a big hit in thattukadas (the dhabas / roadside 'after 12 pm' shops) a low cost dish in our God's own country and people cherish it a lot that they forget the ambience n stuff and jus get into the best thattukadas and order in bulk n eat tummy full.. Now, thats the ranking for today's menu.

However, some of us might have a bad experience of puttum kadalayum since they r usually a regular at hostels due to its low cost and puttu there is often too hard and the curry, too watery... However, I assure you that all those 'haunting' dreams would leave you if you try this out! Definitely!

Ingredients for Puttu / Steam cake

Rice flour : 1 cup

Grated coconut : 1/2 a cup

Salt : 1/2 tspn

Boiled water : 1/4 cup

Plain water : a little

Add salt to rice flour and mix well. Add boiled water to the flour and mix well with a spatula/spoon.

Sprinkle plain water gradually and mix with your hand carefully breaking big rice balls to tiny ones. Mix water until the flour is moist or wet enough to steam.If you feel you cannot break the balls, just run it in your grinder for once and it'll come out well.

Take a puttu kutti(a cylindrical vessel) and put a 1/2 inch layer of grated coconut and then add about 2-3 inch layer of rice flour and then again grated coconut and continue the process until you reach the top. Remember not to stuff rice flour in such a way that pressure couldn't come out while steaming. Add them very softly; alright! think that the flour n coconut would get hurt if you press.. So, thats the idea, gotcha?!

Close the lid and keep it over the puttu kudam/pot (which comes along with the puttu kutti) which should contain water enough to steam.

Keep over high flame and wait until steam comes from the holes in the upper lid.

Push from the lower end with a spoon to a serving dish and serve hot with... what?? kadala curry is on the way.. wait now!

Ingredients for kadala/chick pea curry

To roast, we require

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 2 tspn

Coriander powder : 1 tspn

Fennel seeds powder : 1/2 tspn

Cardamom : 1 no.

Cloves : 1 no.

Cinnamon : 2 inch piece

For seasoning, we require

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Dried red chilly :3 nos.

Sliced shallots : 7 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Black chana/chick pea : 1 cup

Finely sliced onion :a big one

Coconut oil : 3 tbspn

Salt : as required

Soak chick pea overnight or for about 6-8 hours and pressure cook with a little salt until you hear about 10 whistles on your cooker and keep aside to cool.

Take a tawa/pan and pour 1 tbspn of oil and add spices and saute for a minute.

Add grated coconut along with turmeric powder and saute frequently under low flame.
Once the coconut gets roasted, add the chilly powder, coriander powder and fennel seeds powder and saute frequently and switch off the flame and keep aside to cool.

Add a little water and a handful of cooked chana/chick pea along with the roasted ingredients to make a smooth fine paste.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Actually, my rice pudding recipe is something which was an accident-turned-yummy recipe! Once, when I overcooked rice and didn't know what to do out of the leftover, I tried this out to avoid wasting... This is a perfect sweet dish after lunch and also can be given to anyone and everyone cuz this is a darling recipe..

Ingredients :

Cooked white rice : 1 cup

Milk : 2 cups

Sugar : 1 cup

Fried cashews : 1/2 cup

Pista / Badam : 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder : 1/2 tspn

Sweetened condensed milk : 1/2 cup

Ghee : 3 tbspn

Salt : a pinch

Fresh / sweetened whipped cream : to garnish

Take a bowl and pour ghee onto it. Put the cooked rice into it and saute for 2-3 minutes under medium flame.

Take another bowl and pour milk along with sugar and boil under low flame until the milk reduces to 3/4th of its original content. Keep stirring occasionally.

Add cardamom powder and then, a pinch of salt and mix well.

Add the above rice mix to the bowl containing milk and cook covered under low flame to the consistency of your choice. A not too loose to thick consistency is ideal.

Add condensed milk and stir well. Switch off the flame.

Add fried cashews (and raisins if you wish) and stir well.

Garnish the pudding with fresh cream and then, badam and pista over it. Rich isn't it?

- You may also make rice pudding with plain, overcooked basmati rice.

- If the rice is not overcooked, mash it and then saute in ghee.

- If the pudding is too thick, add more milk & required sugar to the consistency of your choice.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Parippu curry is a favourite of Keralites; and hence, I guess, it has got a significant place in every household and in the minds of every Keralite..A must for onasadhya and during Vishu too.. My hubby, who says a strict no-no to veg curries, 'gulps' a significant amount of rice when it comes to making this dish at home.. and I love to watch it.. The deadly combination of rice with ghee sprinkled/poured over and parippu curry, along with pappad is his all-time favourite. Am sure this would make you 'feel good at tummy' too...

Moong dal (Cherupayar parippu) : 100g

Turmeric powder : 1/4 tspn

Green chilly : 2 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Coconut Oil : 3 tbspn

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Cumin seeds : 1/4 tspn

Garlic : 3 pods

Shallots : 10 nos.

Red chilly : 2 nos.

Mustard seeds : 1/4 tspn

Salt : as required.

Wash moong dal thoroughly and dry roast slightly for a few minutes.Remove from fire and keep aside.

Once the cooker depressurizes, open the lid and add the above ground ingredients and cook under medium flame. Add water to reach the consistency of your choice, if less.

Add 1 tbspn of coconut oil to it. Check salt and add if required.
Take a pan and pour the remaining coconut oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add finely sliced shallots along with dry red chillies cut into pieces and curry leaves(tempering). Remove from flame once golden brown.

Pour the above ingredients to the dal curry and mix well. Remove from flame.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Under the scrotching sun, I really feel I should offer you a cool drink recipe which can be made at home.. I guess all of the recipes I've jot down here is easy to make at home... isn't it? Now, this is the most easiest cool drink you'd ever get and has become a regular in Indian households. This one would make all those cappuccino lovers glue to my blog.. very easy n yummy indeed..

You would just need

Frozen milk : 500 ml

Sugar : 5 tbspn

Instant coffee : 2 tspn

Fresh cream : 2 tbspn

Crush the frozen milk and add instant coffee powder along with sugar to a mixer / blender and blend well until frothy. You may add a few ice cubes too in case you feel the milk is too thick.

Pour the smoothie into different glasses and pour fresh cream over it to make it more rich!

Serve super chilled!

Note : The amount of coffee powder you should take would vary with different coffee brands. Hence, taste the mix after blending and add if less. Add more sugar according to your preference, if less.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

First prawn recipe of my blog; starting off with prawn / shrimp roast would be great na? Since prawn is not a regular of our homes as regular as meat, we often make just a few recipes out of it like prawn masala/prawn roast n that's a super hit among my folks! This is a specialty of Kerala n u get fresh shrimps n prawns here..you should definitely make use of it.. I have used the small ones n I feel its more tastier...

Monday, April 12, 2010

This is a not so common yet very simple dish. I am sure everyone of us would know how to make chappathi, and jeera chappathi is just an addition of another ingredient; and here you are, before a very soft n delicate, healthy dish.. I tried it with maida / all purpose flour and u can try it with atta if you wish. Im making the oil-free version, its so soft n tasty! check it out!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

I am sure the subject line of today's post would've taken many of u to those good ol' days... kozhukkatta is one such recipe which brings about nostalgic memories off u... u start remembering ur school days, vacations, tea-time,etc.. ain't I right? This is a traditional Kerala dish and I remember, at our home, whenever kozhukkatta was made, we used to snatch as many no. as possible and would eat'em as if we've got the whole world in our hands! Hey guys, the recipe is simple actually.. All those who are away from your moms, don't worry.. try this out..

Ingredients :

Rice flour : 2 cups

Grated jaggery : 2 cups

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Sugar : 1 tspn

Salt : 1/4 tspn

Cashew : 1 tbspn

Raisins : 1 tspn

Ghee : 1 tspn

Cardamom powder : 1 tspn

Cumin seeds : 1/2 tspn

Dried ginger powder (chukku) : 1/2 tspn

You can make the sweet mix for kozhukkatta in 4 different ways;

Grated coconut + grated jaggery

Grated coconut + grated jaggery + cumin seeds

Grated coconut + grated jaggery + cardamom powder

Grated coconut + grated jaggery + cardamom powder + chukku

Note : Adding one tspn of sugar along with each of these would be even better..

I've listed all the ingredients required and you can opt for any of these sweet mixes.. I would make the 4th mix for u..alright? OK, lets start!

Add salt to the rice flour and mix well. Boil water in a bowl. Once the water is hot, add the rice flour to it and mix well. Keep aside to cool, make a fine dough without lumps, make small balls out of it as you do for ari pathiri. The consistency shouldn't be too loose or too hard.

Prepare the sweet mix with grated coconut, grated jaggery, cardamom powder and chukku and sprinkle a little water and mix thoroughly with hand. If required, you may add fried cashew n raisins along with the sweet mix for richness ;)!

Place each ball on ur hand and flatten it to rounds, keep the sweet mix in middle and close the dough to form a perfect ball. Remember, do not add more amount of sweet mix into the flattened ball or else, it would break. Also, try to cover the ball evenly spreading the dough everywhere equally after closing it.

Steam the balls in a idiappam(rice noodles) or idli cooker for about 10-15 minutes and keep aside to cool.

This is a perfect tea-time snack or can even be had for breakfast. Eat well n enjoy!!!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

We often make pathiri with rice and am sure thats now become very common dish of every Kerala household.. right? Now, we'll try the same with semolina or rava and trust me, thats really tasty.. and very simple too..

Boil water with grated coconut and salt required. Adding a little more salt than required would be advised since adding rava would reduce the salinity. Once completely boiled, add rava gradually, stirring continuously.

Stir under low flame, until the water content completely evaporates. Add a little ghee, if required, for softness.

Switch off the flame, keep aside to cool.

Knead the dough thoroughly adding some ghee so that no lumps are left. Then, make small balls out of it.

Take a chappathi/poori presser and coat both sides with a little oil. Press each of those tiny balls which would resemble a poori. You may also roll them out into small rounds on a chappathi board by adding rice flour occasionally so that they do not stick to the board.

Heat a tawa and put the pathiri on it turning it occasionally until it gets cooked. In between u may brush the tawa with a little oil in case the pathiri gets sticked to it. You may add ghee if required for the richness.

Note : You can even make this without adding grated coconut which wud give u plain rava pathiri.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Guys, did u realise? Not even one fish recipe in this blog! That's not happenin'!... anyways, I'll start off with the most common n irresistible dish of any Kerala household which is adored by each n every Keralite..Be it lunch, or even as a snack, fish fries are always favourite for us.. and I guess for any non-veg in India too!

Fish fries would be the best if you use fresh fish along with using the right marination & the right quantities. You may use any freshwater fish like Pearlspot (Karimeen) or King fish (Neymeen) or .. Pompfret (aavoli) or any fish actually... Try this recipe with the fish u bought today.. Though there are different types of marinades, I would like to come up with the easiest n yummiest recipe for u... No much prep work needed!!!

If you bought Pearlspot, you needed cut it into pieces, however, if its King fish, cut the fish into 1 inch pieces.

Ingredients :

Pearl Spot : 2 medium ones.

Turmeric powder : 1/4 tspn

Pepper powder : 11/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 1/2 tspn

Lemon juice : 5-7 drops

Curry leaves: 2 sprigs

Coconut oil : 3 tbspn

Salt : as required

Onion rings : 10 nos.

A slice of lemon

Wash and clean the fish thoroughly. Now make slits over the body without squeezing the fish / giving pressure. Drain water and keep aside.

Mix the three powders mentioned above along with salt (according to your preference) and water n make a thick paste and also, add lemon juice to it. Taste the marinade and add more pepper if you need it to be more spicy and also add salt if less.

Marinate the fish with the paste, keep aside for 1-2 hours. Take care to marinate the fish evenly allowing the paste to cover the fish and even the slits and sides of the head.

Take a heavy-bottomed pan, pour oil to it. Once hot, add the curry leaves along with the sprig and fry them, remove and keep aside.

Now, put the marinated fish or fish pieces onto the pan and deep fry under medium flame or shallow fry until crispy. Do not flip the fish very often to prevent cracking and for the marination to stick to the fish. Wait for about say, 2-3 minutes and then, flip the fish..

Garnish with fried curry leaves, onion rings and a slice of lemon.

If you've got excess marination, you may fry the same under low flame till crispy and sprinkle over the fried fish.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Firstly, a sincere apology to all my regular readers for being a bit late to come up with a new dish. Thanks for bearing me and coming back to try out my recipe.. :)

Most of us dislike okra or ladies finger cuz its too sticky n messy and also not that great in taste.. But even the vegetables u dislike can be easily converted to a most sort for dish thru some simple n easy steps...thats what we Keralites do..why not take some effort to intake okra which helps in weight loss n in maintaining good health? hence, here's one with very simple steps for u! Definitely try this out cuz this is simply delicious!

Okra (ladies finger) : 9 nos.

Finely slices onion : 1 no.

Green chilly : 2 nos.

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 1/2 tspn

Oil : 2 tbspn

Salt : acc. to ur taste

Clean okra, cut both ends and slice them into tiny rings. Its often advisable to take immature okra since the older ones tend to be more harder n hence would b less tastier.

Add finely cut okra along with required salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder and mix each ingredient with the other.

Add remaining oil and saute without mashing the okra until it gets crispy. Cook covered under low flame.

You are done once the okra is crispy roasted and the onion gets slightly brownish in colour.

Remember, the onion shouldn't get darker for that would make the dish get a charred effect. This is best with chappathi, rice and .. Actually, I found it best with these two! You guys try out n lemme knw what else wud go best with our okra stir-fry!